


What Are Neighbours For?

by constablejonstable



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Baking, Ben Solo is a Mess, Board Games, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Matchmaker Padmé, Miscommunication, Mistaken Identity, Rey and Padme are Neighbours, Rey is confused, Soft Ben Solo, but not really, nana padme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27109921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constablejonstable/pseuds/constablejonstable
Summary: Grandma Padme befriends her new neighbor Rey. She asks Rey to help her bake some cookies for the weekly tea she has with her grandson. The way Padme talks about Ben, Rey thinks he's a child. When the doorbell rings and Padme asks Rey to open the door, she's unpreparedBased on a Reylo Prompt
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 15
Kudos: 54





	What Are Neighbours For?

**Author's Note:**

> I had so much fun writing this, the prompt was too good!
> 
> https://twitter.com/reylo_prompts/status/1295842911871885312

"You must be my new neighbour!"

Rey looks up from her flower bed to see a petite, elderly woman wearing an extravagant sun hat, standing on the porch next door. "Oh, I suppose I am! I'm Rey."

"I'm Padme, dear."

Rey brushes off some dirt from her gloves and walks over to the porch. "Your flowers look lovely, I'm trying to catch up." Padme smiled warmly, waving her arm towards herself.

"Come, come sit with me! I have some lemonade leftover from when my grandson was here yesterday."

Rey climbs up the stairs, sitting on one of the wicker chairs. Padme pours two glasses, ice clinking as she sits down as well.

"Thank you." Rey tips her glass as a salute and takes a large gulp, her eyes widening. "Wow, that is VERY sweet!" Padme laughs, taking a smaller sip.

"That's my little Benji, he has such a sweet tooth! No wonder he has so much energy..." she mused. Rey smiled softly. She could see the fondness etched in Padme's laughlines. "He always visits me. I've been teaching him all the family recipes, he's a good little baker. He HAS to lick the spoon though, that's his one rule. But OH, he is messy! There's always flour everywhere after he visits."

Rey giggles at the thought, this tiny woman wrangling a tinier human around the kitchen. "He sounds adorable, Padme."

A cloud must have passed overhead as Rey thought she saw a gleam in her neighbour's eye. Padme shifted in her chair towards Rey. "Yes, he really is. A real rascal too. Always running into things, I swear I've never seen someone bonk their head on a door as much as that boy."

Rey laughed as she imagined Rose's daughter as a kindergartner learning to skate, her little helmet making her more top-heavy and prone to fall down. "Your grandson sounds like quite the handful."

Padme smiled into her lemonade, almost smirking. "You have no idea, Rey."

"For example, he lives nearby and usually rides his bike to visit me but he got into an accident and my daughter drove him instead. Such a clumsy boy."

"I hope he was okay?" Rey asked, concerned for this little child she had never met. Padme leaned over and squeezed Rey's hand.

"He is, thank you my dear. He'll remember to wear his helmet next time, I'm sure...or he'd better, after the chat I had with him." Padme muttered.

"Well, next time he comes over and he's too much for you or you need a break, I'd be happy to take him off your hands!" Rey offers. 

Padme squeezed her hand a little tighter. "That would be wonderful! He's coming over next Sunday, he wants to bring my famous chocolate chip cookies for his class party on Monday. You could come over and help us, if you're not busy?" she asked intently.

Rey thought for a moment. She didn't have a lot of experience with kids, Rose's daughter being the exception. She wasn't even sure why she had volunteered in the first place. But the way Padme she described grandson, Rey knew she just wanted to show off her "Benji".

"Of course, I'll be there!" Rey answered, finishing the last of the lemonade. "Just let me know when I should walk over on Sunday." She stood up to leave. Padme gave her a crushing hug, saying that she'll leave a note. 'Maybe this is where Benji REALLY gets his energy from...'

With all the unpacking, Sunday arrived before Rey knew it. She managed to find her box of board games in all of the mess, trying to find one that would be suitable for Benji. She forgot to ask Padme how old her grandson was but figured she could make an educated guess.

What Rey knew about Benji:

  * Clumsy
  * Messy
  * Bicycle accident with no helmet
  * Still liked hanging out with his grandma
  * HAD to lick the spoon
  * Needed to bring cookies for his elementary class party



Rey figured a game in the "5 to 12 years of age" range would work. She grabbed a couple games, just to have some options, and walked over to Padme's house. She noticed a motorcycle in the driveway with a shiny, new looking helmet dangling on the handlebar. Rey had heard the rumble of a motorcycle earlier but didn't think anything of it.

She walked up the steps onto the porch, glancing down at the little green gnome in a brown robe. She mused that she and the gnome matched. Rey had worn an all beige outfit in case the flour situation got out of hand. More specifically, out of Benji's hands. Rey knocked on the door, shuffling the boardgames around. She heard muffles voices and then Padme's footfalls approaching the door. The door opened wide and the smell fresh cookies hit Rey like a crashing wave. "Rey! So glad you're here, come in! We've already gotten started."

Rey took in Padme's appearance. She had flour all over her apron and a smidgen in her hair. Her cheeks were flushed, eyes twinkling with glee. "I can see you've already started. How do you manage him?" Rey asked, huffing out a laugh as they walked towards the kitchen.

"Oh, he's not that bad now. You should have seen him when he was in grade school, just a terror. And THEN high school? What a menace. Now's he just a big sweetie..." Padme trails off as she enters the kitchen. Rey's feet follow Padme while her brain stops in the living room.

'Grade school...high school...how old was this kid?' Rey scrambled, trying to see where she had made a mistake. Rey turned the corner into the kitchen. She could now see where she made a mistake. A huge mistake. A dark haired, dark eyed, refrigerator sized mistake.

The aforementioned dark hair did have more flour in it than Padme's did. His whisky eyes were locked upon Rey, seemingly frozen. Similarly frozen was his mouth, locked around a wooden spoon, presumably with cookie dough on it. "Benji, quit staring! Help Rey with her games!"

Padme's interjection spurred her grandson into action. The action itself was unfortunate. He pulled the spoon out of his mouth quickly, dragging his lips away from his face. It clattered loudly on the counter as he moved to help Rey. His now singular focus on the board games could have been the reason he did not see the cabinet door that he absentmindedly left open. If Padme had to guess though, Rey was the reason he walked face first into the door.

The cabinet door swung closed with the force of his face. He simply stood there, rubbing his nose, staring hard at Rey. She was still holding the games. "Oh Benji, what am I going to do with you?" Padme sighed, trying not to laugh. "Do you need an ice pack?"

"Nana, please-"

"I don't know how you can manage a class of 20-some children when you keep hurting yourself like this..."

"Nana, can we not-"

"And last week, you falling off that motorcycle..."

"Nana, not my fault, the asphalt was broken-"

Rey was bouncing back and forth from the two of them squabbling like she wasn't there. She could see a resemblance though. They both had the same look of exasperation on their faces. She was grateful though, she was able to reassess her presumptions about "Benji".

What Rey NOW knew about Benji:

  * Motorcycle accident, now owns a helmet
  * Thoughtful enough to bake homemade cookies for his students.
  * Still clumsy
  * Still messy
  * Still licks the spoon



'But with THOSE lips...' she thought.

The most important thing she now knew about Padme's grandson is how much he must love her, visiting so often, learning the secret family recipes, listening to her fuss over his safety with the same fondness she saw in Padme's eyes last week on the porch.

"...and look, Rey is still holding her games, Benji!"

"Nana, please, it's Ben, we've been over this-"

"I'll start calling you Ben when Rey has a glass of lemonade in her hand instead of those games...Benji." Ben pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes at Padme.

Rey could not help herself from laughing. A bright bark escaped her. Ben turned back to Rey, a smile gracing his face. He chuckled with her. "I'm sorry, that was rude. You two are very cute together." Padme rolled her eyes at her grandson and took the offending boxes from Rey.

"Funny, I was going to say you two would be cute together but Benji has no manners. Don't know how I expected him to ask you on a date...anyways, I'll just put these in the dining room. Be right back!" Padme scurried out of the kitchen leaving the pair of them slack-jawed.

Rey and Ben stared at the cloud of flour that remained in the air where Padme had been standing before Ben burst into laughter. It startled Rey at first, his deep belly laugh. She soon joined in, creating a melody of their own, eventually slowing down. "So you're Rey?"

"Yeah, I just moved in next door." Ben went to fridge, grabbing the lemonade pitcher, pouring Rey a glass. He handed it to Rey. She took a sip. "Mhmm, Nana said. She failed to mention you were a woman." Rey choked, lemonade getting caught in her nose.

"Oh god, no, I'm so sorry!" Ben exclaimed, pulling a tea towel off the counter, holding it out to Rey, as if he would make it worse by getting any closer. Rey took the towel and started laughing again, confounding Ben.

"It's okay, I thought you were 7 or something." His eyebrows shot up into his hair, grinning incredulously.

"Why would you think that?" A spark of confidence and adventure rushed through Rey.

"Let me tell you over dinner? We'll get someone else to cook though...Ben."

If Padme was eavesdropping from the dining room, she'd never tell a soul. But if asked, she'd tell anyone who would listen that the skills she taught Ben in the kitchen got him his dream girl.

**Author's Note:**

> I tweeted this out months ago, just moving it here in case Twitter goes haywire again. 
> 
> If I missed any tags, let me know at @cstjonstable. Thanks for reading!


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